M416 Build
- Thread starter dieselcruiserhead
- Start date
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
The sheet metal. Again this sheet is about 100 lbs so a little hard to get around. My cutting station and method for cutting which is cutoff wheels with my little grinder. I probably went through about 6 last night. Respirator is mandatory otherwise black lungs/boogers for a week and sick as a dog. Even then you still get it to an extent...
Attachments
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
taquito971@yahoo.com
Observer
Looking very nice! I like the ladder support for the fuel/water cans. Nice additions.
Brian
Brian
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
The lid & hinges in operation...
This is the front most hinge. It it tacked in place but will be removable via bolts so the lib can be removable. I messed up though and installed it backwards so I will have to make it again. If I open the lid on a hill it could potentially slide off. The whole point of installing this one hinge backwards is to keep it from sliding off..
The lid and frame
This is the front most hinge. It it tacked in place but will be removable via bolts so the lib can be removable. I messed up though and installed it backwards so I will have to make it again. If I open the lid on a hill it could potentially slide off. The whole point of installing this one hinge backwards is to keep it from sliding off..
The lid and frame
Attachments
Last edited:
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
Makeshift rain gutters??
Welded on, trimmed and welded on bottom left corner.
Yup.. Funny as I dug out these old rain gutter mounts. It's amazing as I've had these since college. They have been on probably half dozen cars and even some old lad cruisers and moved across the country with me... Pretty psyched to use them again...
Sweet...
Welded on, trimmed and welded on bottom left corner.
Yup.. Funny as I dug out these old rain gutter mounts. It's amazing as I've had these since college. They have been on probably half dozen cars and even some old lad cruisers and moved across the country with me... Pretty psyched to use them again...
Sweet...
Attachments
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
More attachments again. Inevitably something will ride there someday so might as well prep for it...
The tongue again...
Closer, shows the rain gutter mounts again...
Final pics... I feel like I'm finally rounding the third base I suppose... I have a couple more additions I need to make, including one that is "large" and should be interesting... Also, as of right now I don't have a RTT but working on it...
You can see the right side structural strengthening for the wall. This worked excellently...
Cheers,
Andre
:beer:
The tongue again...
Closer, shows the rain gutter mounts again...
Final pics... I feel like I'm finally rounding the third base I suppose... I have a couple more additions I need to make, including one that is "large" and should be interesting... Also, as of right now I don't have a RTT but working on it...
You can see the right side structural strengthening for the wall. This worked excellently...
Cheers,
Andre
:beer:
Attachments
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
Great, thanks guys...
A couple points I forgot to make and some of my thoughts... The width of the sheet metal is 4' (4 x 8 sheets) so it was a hair narrow for the 52" wide outer lip of the tub. So one more reason I went with the frame design besides storing fuel/water in the vertical position.
But it wasn't perfect as you can see in the bottom right corner here (there is a gap). This is because I made the frame match some of the natural warping of the trailer over 40+ years of use. So these gaps will be addressed when I pull the cap off for painting and then welded. The gap, bottom right corner of photo: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=27153&stc=1&d=1238536863
Also, the ladder supports aren't perfect because of the difference between NATO and Scepter/plastic cans. So I'll add an inch of padding glued to the lid that also keeps them from banging around and keeps them in place. The idea is I could have 1 or 2 or three cans or all 6, secured by the lid, any time. I'll paint or mark the floor for proper placement. Sort of a crappy location in the middle but they are weighted just after the rear axle so they will counter balance the weight of the tongue particularly with the trailer fully loaded.
I also placed the thule racks a hair back as well for the same reason, so it is a little more balanced with a heavy RTT. The added crossmember and tongue extension really added a lot of weight up front and I have a couple more additions that will also add a little more weight up front.
Also interesting is how much weight this has all added. The air bag compressed significantly so I had to jack them up. It is really fun to watch the trailer shoot up a couple inches with 1-2 seconds of air added... This said, the trailer will be particularly stripped down for now versus a lot of the other trailers people are building (and how heavy they are). You can go as nuts as you want with a trailer. I realistically see why some trailers are a whopping $12G for an off road trailer... Again, I'm 6 months into this now as well for a fairly stripped trailer by AT & other trailer standards.
Also final thoughts are my two trucks are a pickup and my FJ55 when done. So vehicles with a lot of storage and it makes me question the need of the trailer which is a discussion me and friends (and particularly Kurt) have been having for a some time. Fear not, I'm not having any doubts... I'm mostly writing this myself as I'll come back here and there and read this thread and remember and fall in love with the trailer all over again when in a year or two or five I'm contemplating selling it simply because its in my nature. Carrie also doesn't see the need for it and things I should sell it now which I'm about 90% opposed to and luckily this is my department though we're otherwise complete group decision makers most of the time. The extra room with a trailer in the 55 would be nice with a full car (which is very rare) but the truck already has plenty of storage. So what is the point of the trailer?
I figure while I have the time now as it increasingly diminishes I would build it and build it right. I imagine when the kids (we have no kids and this is a few years off) are 4 or 6 or 10 or whatever, a trailer like this really could be a lot of fun for desert trips, etc... So I'm looking at this as a real long term investment. It would be really cool to still have this damn thing when I'm 50 And always be relatively prepped and ready to go and ditch all the overnight stuff for actual wheeling (as mentioned by many other people). So again it really is a very fun flexible platform and I really think it could have some wider uses for all sorts of fun adventuring... I really like the idea of it all.
The only thing/my only complaint again is the size. It's gotten and getting bigger and bigger. In a perfect world 15-20% smaller would be great for me. But maybe I'll learn to respect its size and storage in the future... Such is life though, I imagine it will tow very well and will be less of a big deal to me once I get it behind my well powered trucks once they are running. But due to it's size I'm not 100% it will do the crazy wheeling I was hoping for (ala Kurt Williams style and his trailer) though it should be pretty good. I don't know, we'll see about that I suppose, I have a feeling it will go through some fun wheeling rounds and I'll enjoy towing it around...
So, my thoughts aloud, as usual...
A couple points I forgot to make and some of my thoughts... The width of the sheet metal is 4' (4 x 8 sheets) so it was a hair narrow for the 52" wide outer lip of the tub. So one more reason I went with the frame design besides storing fuel/water in the vertical position.
But it wasn't perfect as you can see in the bottom right corner here (there is a gap). This is because I made the frame match some of the natural warping of the trailer over 40+ years of use. So these gaps will be addressed when I pull the cap off for painting and then welded. The gap, bottom right corner of photo: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=27153&stc=1&d=1238536863
Also, the ladder supports aren't perfect because of the difference between NATO and Scepter/plastic cans. So I'll add an inch of padding glued to the lid that also keeps them from banging around and keeps them in place. The idea is I could have 1 or 2 or three cans or all 6, secured by the lid, any time. I'll paint or mark the floor for proper placement. Sort of a crappy location in the middle but they are weighted just after the rear axle so they will counter balance the weight of the tongue particularly with the trailer fully loaded.
I also placed the thule racks a hair back as well for the same reason, so it is a little more balanced with a heavy RTT. The added crossmember and tongue extension really added a lot of weight up front and I have a couple more additions that will also add a little more weight up front.
Also interesting is how much weight this has all added. The air bag compressed significantly so I had to jack them up. It is really fun to watch the trailer shoot up a couple inches with 1-2 seconds of air added...
This said, the trailer will be particularly stripped down for now versus a lot of the other trailers people are building (and how heavy they are). You can go as nuts as you want with a trailer. I realistically see why some trailers are a whopping $12G for an off road trailer... Again, I'm 6 months into this now as well for a fairly stripped trailer by AT & other trailer standards.Also final thoughts are my two trucks are a pickup and my FJ55 when done. So vehicles with a lot of storage and it makes me question the need of the trailer which is a discussion me and friends (and particularly Kurt) have been having for a some time. Fear not, I'm not having any doubts... I'm mostly writing this myself as I'll come back here and there and read this thread and remember and fall in love with the trailer all over again when in a year or two or five I'm contemplating selling it simply because its in my nature. Carrie also doesn't see the need for it and things I should sell it now which I'm about 90% opposed to and luckily this is my department though we're otherwise complete group decision makers most of the time. The extra room with a trailer in the 55 would be nice with a full car (which is very rare) but the truck already has plenty of storage. So what is the point of the trailer?
I figure while I have the time now as it increasingly diminishes I would build it and build it right. I imagine when the kids (we have no kids and this is a few years off) are 4 or 6 or 10 or whatever, a trailer like this really could be a lot of fun for desert trips, etc... So I'm looking at this as a real long term investment. It would be really cool to still have this damn thing when I'm 50
And always be relatively prepped and ready to go and ditch all the overnight stuff for actual wheeling (as mentioned by many other people). So again it really is a very fun flexible platform and I really think it could have some wider uses for all sorts of fun adventuring... I really like the idea of it all. The only thing/my only complaint again is the size. It's gotten and getting bigger and bigger. In a perfect world 15-20% smaller would be great for me. But maybe I'll learn to respect its size and storage in the future... Such is life though, I imagine it will tow very well and will be less of a big deal to me once I get it behind my well powered trucks once they are running. But due to it's size I'm not 100% it will do the crazy wheeling I was hoping for (ala Kurt Williams style and his trailer) though it should be pretty good. I don't know, we'll see about that I suppose, I have a feeling it will go through some fun wheeling rounds and I'll enjoy towing it around...
So, my thoughts aloud, as usual...
Last edited:
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
Bruce again related to my thoughts here... I would say it depends on your overall desires with the trailer. My thoughts are to make it considerably smaller related to my thoughts. If you want a larger camping trailer with mild wheeling ability then this isn't a bad call. But again, it will be very large...
Great job on your trailer. I very much appreciated the thorough job you did in documenting your build thus far. I am planning to build a trailer from scratch, using an independent suspension set up similar to yours. I liked your idea to use a laser leveling device to true up the axles; I was wondering how to do that.
Do you mind sharing the frame dimensions? The trailer I’m planning to build will be a fleet side, but I don’t want the trailer to be wider than my TJ. I decided to go fleet so i can take advantage of the extra square footage.
Here is an example of the tub am looking to build
Box Rocket
Well-known member
Andre, that's looking sweet! Nice job stealing my idea on the safety chain loops! They work great and I'll be stealing your idea of adding some to the lid, that's a great idea. I wanted to ask you how thick the sheetmetal is that you used on your lid? I've been planning on some 16ga. with a ladder style frame similar to yours but I need to keep it from bowing and also not be too heavy. Just gotta find the right balance.
Seriously nice job dude.
Seriously nice job dude.
IH8RDS
Explorer
Removable lid... brilliant!
I too hope I still have my trailer when I am 50. The kids love mine. When I go out for wood to split they enjoy riding in the back. Also when out on the beach they like to ride in the trailer. I have an old YJ seat that fits in there and makes it comfortable.
I too hope I still have my trailer when I am 50. The kids love mine. When I go out for wood to split they enjoy riding in the back. Also when out on the beach they like to ride in the trailer. I have an old YJ seat that fits in there and makes it comfortable.